Hit the Road, Jack!: Hit a Tragic, But Short, Previous Life.
Sandro Hooligan.
Teenie Dragon.
130 years old.
Village Chief.
Main Level 45.
Skills (450) - unavailable.
***
Jack Hooligan
Unavailable.
***
Elicia Hooligan
Soul-Bound Master
Unavailable.
***
Pietro Hooligan
Juvenile Dragon
115 years old
Main Level 15
Skills (150) - unavailable.
***
Sandra Hooligan
Juvenile Dragon
100 years old
Main Level 6
Skills (60) - Unavailable -
Skill Trees:
Mage 5 (25)*
Nature Magician 24 (1)
Druid 1 (Skill Advancement Available at Level 40)
Meele Fighter 5 (25)*
Pugilist 3 (Skill Advancement Available at Level 5)
Play Fighting 7 (Skill Advancement Available at Level 24)
Monster Form Fighting 5 (10)
Bite Mastery 4 (do not fill the requirements for Advancement)
Tail Mastery 4 (do not fill the requirements for Advancement)
Claw Mastery 2 (do not fill the requirements for Advancement)
Horn Mastery - Unavailable in the current form - (0)
Sting Mastery - Unavailable in the current form - (0)
If one were to become a Mind Flyer, that is, the inhuman monstrosity which now stood in front of Jack, Elicia, Sandro, Pietro e Sandra, then they would receive this kind of information, right after looking at them. It was an in-born Appraisal special skill and, as much as it was basic, it was still very useful.
Of course, it wouldn't be able to detect anything much above its own level.
Mind Flyer.
It was, literally, a piece of paper with an Advanced Mimicry skill. If you killed it, it would then become a commemorative flyer with a picture of the place where you killed it and the finishing blow as well.
It was a rather popular useless item on the game, as the Mind Flyer would assume the scariest possible form in front of its target according to their deepest fears, and so render them unable to react.
It was a level 3 monster, extremely weak and unable to hurt a fly - unless it managed to scare it.
As for how it feed, it was by sucking mana and even Fairy Dust out of their targets. As long as the target didn't have enough resistances, the Mind Flyer would be able to literally suck the EXP out of them.
It was a terribly destructive monster if it was used in great amounts, even while being weak.
As for its main purpose - well, it was used either as a form of dungeon defense in enormous swarms (which was considered a very dirt trick in the game days, do mind you), or for the one it was being used right now - as a disposable mental resistance grinding station.
Mental Strain Resistance. Fear Resistance. Mana Drain Resistance. EXP Drain Resistance. Those were the four main resistances one would gain by letting the Mind Flyer gnaw at them for a while.
The price, of course, would be to lose at least five to six levels - something Sandro could afford at the moment, however.
***
It took around four days for Sandro to manage to get enough Mental Resistances to trigger his Past Lives' memories.
Of course, the Mind Flyer was only the first part of the grinding marathon. After grinding Fear Resistance and Mental Strain Resistance, other forms of resistance, such as Mental Fortitude, were needed.
At the end of the day, Sandro's memories were easy to unlock. With only 60 or so Skill levels expended on Mental Resistances, coupled with 200 or so on other trees in order to unlock some of the Resistances (like Mental Fortitude, which required Mage 20 to unlock), it could be said to be an easy time out.
It would be harder to remember memories of a deeply traumatic past life. No one was certain why, but it was something confirmed by all of those who tried to do it.
Remembering past lives wasn't something the Code controlled. It wasn't a skill or something programmed in the game. It simply happened to those with enough Mental Resistances, and no one was much sure why.
Most believed it had something to do with the Minds of those who were part of the game, and that wouldn't be all empty air - after all, their minds would connect to their brains through skills and specially through mental skills. In order to get those, one would need to grind Mental Resistances, so, perhaps, it was that one needed enough mental skills, and not specifically mental resistances. But one thing walked side-by-side with the other, so it was impossible to know for sure.
That said, what to mention about Sandro's previous lives?
His name was Maicon Ferreira. Maybe the most impacting moment happened when he was five years old and his father gave him a very rough beating. From there on, his life was as boring as it could be.
Maybe because of that, he eventually became an Another World addict, and expended every single moment on it.
No friends, no family, no lover. No job or colleagues, even, since he was a free-lancer, his main jobs happening inside Another World themselves, such as guiding corporation people through grinding sessions and designing personalized art for users with money and 'desire for style' - as his brand advertised.
Once the Squeam Servers begun going down, it was a matter of time until he was hooked up on every single news media, compulsively looking for a way to do it. To return to the game.
That was why he decided to kill himself and enter the game "once and for all".
His main character was outside of the Main World, in a small piece of a Private Server he owned, so he did his best to select the Main World as his destination - which resulted in being reincarnated as a beast known as Main Tank Tiger.
It was a huge beast with a high level of danger, but it was taken down easily nonetheless, since its first real enemy in a long while was none other than the neuromancer who sold his soul to Jack and Elicia.
During the process of reincarnating and also the one after being killed, no memories remained - as his "soul" wasn't an item but, rather, the Code coordinates and Link to his Mind - which were then ingrained into the Hatchling baby dragon.
From there on, everything he lived was many times more exciting and colorful. His many supernatural senses, such as electromagnetic sensing and enhanced sense of smell, gave him an astonishing amount of information his previous life didn't had.
It was roughly the same as being deaf, mute and blind - and even having only one arm - and then reincarnating on a healthy body.
Of course, being depressed and addicted enough to kill himself, his past self wasn't something easy to deal with. No kind of suicide is easy to deal with.
However, not only were his past two lives extremely limited in terms of sensory perception of the world - that is, compared to a dragon -, he also had a number of Mental Resistances which countered all of the negative feelings he experienced back then.
His fear and loneliness. His addiction and misery. His boredom at life and his contempt with everything except his own sadness. All of that was countered immediately, right after being remembered.
On the external world, what could be seen was surprisingly little.
Sandro's face went blank for a moment, and then he returned to his normal state of being.
A few strands of his past self, however, remained.
For instance, the feeling that his father was a hassle.
He had that idea ever since he was young. His mother provided for the house, gave him and his siblings all kinds of education, and even she treated his father with a certain degree of irritation.
In his past life, Sandro had lived a situation which resembled this one - except that he despised both his parents, and not his father only.
The contempt he had for his mother was mostly overwritten by his current memories. But the one for his father only grew.
Jack was strong, powerful, and even a menace to the whole world if he wanted to. Still, he wouldn't do a thing all day long. His favorite activity was to sleep, and the most varied thing in his life was his diet - ranging from gold-dust-covered Ice Cream to Gold-Stuffed Barbecued Chicken.
He didn't have ambition. He didn't have the desire to change and grow. He was a sore on his eyes… and at some points, remembered who he himself was as well.
What ambitions did he have? What did he want to accomplish in life? Jack was his constant reminder - a person whose very existence meant looking at what he disliked on himself.
He looked away. Anger was one of those Mental States which he had little resistance against, but he did have some.
A smile appeared on his face as he looked at everyone in front of him, even his father. What if he was angry at him? What if he was bitter? Just shove it down for now. Ignore that, and look at your father, at this person who lived at your side for your whole life, and who, for better or worse, has that thing everyone who hold us as a baby has. That gratitude we ingrain on our hearts and which slowly turns into unconditional love.
The eyes of his parents and siblings lit up with relief at that moment, and soon he was buried in hugs and fraternal love. Sandra and Pietro were crying, Jack held his tears and Elicia was calm, but relieved.
That small worm of hatred and contempt in Sandro's chest, however, wriggled around a little more before finally calming down for the time being.
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* The level after the bracers [ mage 5 (this)] represents how many sub-tree levels can be brought with the current tree at its level. So, to get druid 2, one would need to have Mage 10 (50), which would allow for Nature Magician 48 (2), which only then would allow for Druid 2. Do notice that the sub-sub-trees do count for the maximum number of sub-tree points. So, at Nature Magic 48 (2), one would have expended 48 of the skill points allowed by Mage 10 (50). At Nature Magic 48 (2) plus Druid 2, one would have expended all 50.